Love Poem: the Ancient Greeks

Love Poem:  the Ancient Greeks

 i
A continent full of snakes and spiders greeted
Paris on his march into Troy. He thought of Helen
while inside the Trojan horse, marking his love
for her on wooden beams with his sword.

When he dreamed of her, the seas whooshed him
back and forth to a bedchamber of camel hair
and wind-chimes.

ii
When Psyche brought home Cupid his dazzling 
red hair was not her parents' concern, but more 
his two wings that echoed a mellifluous lip music.

They were not impressed with the non-human
aspect of his sailing around the room,
fluttering and lifting her high above.

iii
Pygmalion's love for Galatea was not carnal, sexual
or Greek-style. They did not mention war, or a parent's
non-approval. They stood stiffly around in the blue toga

of the day. He polished her eyes in a mirror image 
of his. She gazed back, without end; a woman 
he could never domesticate, covet or ruin.